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• In
1613, London’s original Globe Theatre, where many of Shakespeare’s plays were
performed, was destroyed by a fire sparked by a cannon shot during a performance of
Henry VIII.

• In
1927, the first trans-Pacific airplane flight was completed as Lt. Lester J.
Maitland and Lt. Albert F. Hegenberger arrived at Wheeler Field in Hawaii after flying 2,400 miles
from Oakland, Calif., in

25 hours, 50 minutes.

• In
1933, actor-director Roscoe “Fatty” Arbuckle (above) died in New York at age
46.

• In
1956, actress Marilyn Monroe married playwright Arthur Miller in a civil ceremony
in White Plains, N.Y. (The couple also wed in a Jewish ceremony on July 1; the marriage lasted 41/2
years.)

• In
1972, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down a trio of death sentences, saying the way
they had been imposed constituted cruel and unusual punishment. (The ruling prompted states to
effectively impose a moratorium on executions until their capital-punishment laws could be
revised.)

• In
1993, Joel Rifkin pleaded not guilty at an arraignment in Mineola, N.Y., to one
count of murder, a day after police found a woman’s body in his pickup truck. (Rifkin, who has
confessed to killing 17 women, is serving multiple life sentences for nine murders.)

•
Ten years ago: Actress Katharine Hepburn (above) died in Old Saybrook, Conn., at
age 96.

•
Five years ago: Zimbabwe’s longtime ruler Robert Mugabe was sworn in as president
for a sixth term after a widely discredited runoff in which he was the only candidate.

•
One year ago: The U.S. Anti-Doping Agency filed formal charges against Lance
Armstrong, accusing the seven-time Tour de France winner of using performance-enhancing drugs
throughout the best years of his career.

Thought for today

“Wouldn’t it be great if people could get to live suddenly as often as they die suddenly?” —
Katharine Hepburn (1907-2003)